I think that totally depends on the pilot's abilities and the clear space at either end of the strip. By the book? Sure, it has the performance. Does the pilot have the skill? Dunno....it's a little short for my tastes, unless I had an emergency.
 
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Short Stop Airfield (8TA5) Texas

I fly my -6 with about 175 hp and a Catto 3-blade F/P out of 1500', 640' elevation. Clear approaches both ends. Railroad at south end. I find it comfortable. Some of my RV friends won't land here. Several do. Like Paul says, it has more to do with pilot technique and exeperience than it does the airplane.
 
tclour said:
will an rv-8 with 180-hp-fixed ptich prop operate from a 1300' grass runway at 850' elevation??
Click to expand...

The -8 will, but can you, is the blunt answer. You certainly can with enough training and practice, if necessary.

I have operated a Supercub and a -9a out of one way 1020' (130' asl) with poor approach and felt quite safe. The max I ever use is about 75% of it.

When my -4 is finished and I have learned to land it, I will operate that there as well. I will not bring it into my strip until I can repeatedly land it over and over in a defined subsection of another local runway I use for comparison.

I discarded building an -8 because of runway length, but with an extra 280' I would not be concerned, since VANS ground role number is only 50' different from the -9, and their numbers seem to be accurate. [One health warning. I have not run the performance calculation on the effect of 1300' at 850' .v.1020' at 130'!]

My tips are:
- practice and practice and practice elewhere 'til it is not challenging.
- compare the GPS with the ASI every landing. You need to know if you have a local tail wind component, and do something about it.
- build it lite.

If you want to see my set up go here. http://gikonwhy4.blogspot.com/2006/05/why-did-i-choose-to-build-rv4.html#links

PS The issue is all about landing. Takeoff is a far more repeatable operation.
 
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